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Wednesday, July 18, 2018

The Eleventh Doctor

I'm finally nearing the end of my Doctor Who post series (what am I supposed to do when I'm done?), but for now here's the Doctor (though easily not my favorite) grew on me and took us to the 50th Anniversary of the series.

Enter the fez

Series 5Top Story: The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang
To be fair I wasn't a big fan of this season because of Amy's obsession with the Doctor. As a result, the season (while good) was a bit slow for me.... though the Van Gogh episode was great.... I'll be addressing that in the near future. My love of this story though comes from the cyclical nature of the time travel. Episodes like this and Blink are satisfying to me, because that's the kind of time travel I'd subscribe to. Not the kind of time travel, like "The Flash", where everything can be messed up and manipulated. It was also the episode where Amy's obsession with the Doctor started to subside, so that was also very nice.Flop Story: The Beast Below
Like many of my flop stories, this story was forgetable. Beyond how forgetable it is, I need to comment on the weirdness of the star whale. I like the whole Britain in space thing, but the existence of the space whale bugs me for some reason. Maybe it's the organism's inability to breathe in space? Or maybe it's just that it looks ridiculous? I'm not sure.

Honorable Mention: Vincent and the Doctor
I'll delve more into this when I do a post on this episode, but I loved the physical representation of mental illness. Having dealt with anxiety and depression throughout different periods of my life, this episode was able to put into words and images what I've felt. But like I said, I'll get into that one more when I post about this episode.

Always bring a banana to a party

Series 6Top Story: Let's Kill Hitler
I loved getting a chunk of the River Song/Melody backstory. I don't exactly love that she ended up being BFFs with Amy and Rory growing up, but it was fun to see Black River flirting with the Doctor. Also great to see newly regenerated River Song bantering with him. Also, just the premise of the episode happening in Nazi Germany was great, considering very little of it had to do with Hitler.Flop Story: The Girl Who Waited
This episode kind of drove me crazy, giving Amy an escalated future and then having her refuse to go back and fix it. In some ways it's a good metaphor for forgiveness and resentment (being unable to let go of the past), but it also annoyed me. Maybe it's just that I already don't like Amy in this period of Doctor Who, but Old Amy's insistence of not changing the past bugged me. You lost 40 years of your life and you don't want to fix that?

Honorable Mention: The Doctor's Wife
"Did you wish REALLLLLY hard?" For decades (ever since the First Doctor) it's been hinted that the TARDIS was more than a machine, a living thing. So here we actually got to see the Doctor's TARDIS in human form. It was also kind of fun to get the hint of other Time Lords. Of course, this became a bigger plot point towards the end of the Eleventh Doctor's era and into the Twelfth Doctor's time, as we got the return of Gallifrey, but it was cool to see other Time Lords teased before.

Series 7Top Story: The Angels Take Manhattan
Is it too sadistic for me to say this was my favorite because Amy finally left? Oddly enough I'd actually begun to warm up to her. But alas, she was finally gone. The sad part was that it was also the final pre-libary appearance of River Song for quite a long time. Besides my sadicism, I like the cyclicle nature of the time travel again, with River Song's book. It was also a wonderful last major appearance of the Weeping Angels. And a good story at that.Flop Story: Hide
This story was among the forgetable. Also with it being a very peculiar love story/ghost story left me feeling unfulfilled. In the end, the whole point of the visit was just to get a vibe of who Clara really was. Nothing else really developed from this story. Just kind of blah.

The War Doctor

Honorable Mention: The Name of the Doctor
My favorite part of this episode (especially after having watched Classic Doctor Who now) was seeing glimpses into the other Doctor's adventures: "The Invasion of Time", "Arc of Infinity", "Dragonfire", and "Forest of the Dead". I love the callbacks to Classic Doctor Who, because it hints back to the fact that this show has such a rich, extended history. In addition to Classic Who references, this episode had the reappearance of the deceased River Song. It also had the return of the Great Intelligence, previously seen in "The Snowmen" and "The Bells of Saint John", but also as far back as "The Abominable Snowmen" and "The Web of Fear". Again, more Classic Doctor Who lore.

50th Anniversary Episode: The Day of the Doctor
Even considering the 10 year gap that only had the Eighth Doctor's movie for new media, what other franchise can claim such a longstanding legacy? I remember seeing this story in theaters with some of my friends and it was amazing. The story never lost its pacing and who could have predicted the ending when all the Doctors arrived to help? I also can't imagine anything better than how the Tenth and Eleventh Doctors interacted. Also, not that the "plot holes" needed to be filled it, but this story gave us some added details to the Time War and to the Doctor's marriage to Queen Elizabeth. Writing this I realize I need to watch this again....

COMPANIONS:
AmyThe Eleventh Hour - The Angels Take Manhattan
RoryThe Vampires of Venice - The Angels Take Manhattan
ClaraThe Bells of St. John - (12th Doctor)

The Impossible Girl

Favorite Companion: I've heard a lot of complaints about her, but I loved Clara. She was spunky and fun and (at least at the start) she wasn't a romantic interest for the Doctor (and the romantic implication was VERY short lived). I also liked the complexity of her character being splintered throughout time. It brought an interesting aspect to the Doctor's previous adventures and a unique understanding of the Doctor, as she progressed forward with the Twelfth Doctor. Also, I definitely crushed on her. Above all, her story was very unique and I loved how it progressed, especially during her first season with Peter Capaldi.

The Girl Who Waited

Least Favorite Companion: I understand the whole developmental aspect of it, but I cannot get over Amy. She drove me nuts. Instead of clinging to her fiance/husband, it always felt like she was picking the Doctor over Rory. She even made a move on him the night before her wedding. She was always better with Rory around, but it still felt like Rory was sidelined for her, unless he was about to die. That's now how marriage should be. *Rant over*

This Doctor is where I know a lot of people started. What did you think of the Eleventh Doctor? Who was better: 10 or 11?

The Eleventh Doctor appeared on the Sarah Jane Adventures
alongside Sarah Jane and Jo